Comments on: Ask Mike: Who started Labor Day?

By: Kayliana

Kayliana — Thu, 10 Sep 2009 00:37:02 +0000

I think the “who” is less important than the “why” of this holiday. President Grover Cleveland ordered a massacre of the people who marched and protested. Many died because it was considered an illegal activity.

Labor Day was Congress’s way of trying to apologize to the public, after breaking their spirits with such an act. His decision cost him a second election.

Those people died to protest unfair wages, poor living conditions, and the like. And now, today, we benefit with minimum wage and overtime.

So here’s my salute to those who made life for us easier, and a moment of silence to those who died /to our own government/ to stick up for their rights.

By: Nathan

Nathan — Wed, 09 Sep 2009 14:09:08 +0000

Labor Day is the day we celebrate the long hours we work and how few holidays we get compared to the rest of the western world.

Also, according to Wiki:
“The first Labor Day in the United States was celebrated on September 5, 1882 in New York City.[1] In the aftermath of the deaths of a number of workers at the hands of the US military and US Marshals during the 1894 Pullman Strike, President Grover Cleveland put reconciliation with Labor as a top political priority.”

It was a concession to avoid bloodshed. Just like May Day, the Labor Day in Canada, was a concession after police killed strikers there.

By: chris b.

chris b. — Wed, 09 Sep 2009 06:17:01 +0000

My dad worked 12 hour days 7 days a week up until he retired last year.. so not everyone gets to work 9-5 with 3 day weekends.. he got paid holiday pay, which i have seldom had jobs that had the day off cause things needed to get done, so I have had the holiday pay too and it isn’t bad at all.. I had to work labor day this year but my job I work four 12 hour days with 4 days off, so for all the people who got their 3 day weekend I have had 8 days off surrounding that weekend i worked fri – mon and have tues – fri off plus holiday pay for mon. The best was (as I was driving to work) seeing all the people with their boats and campers stuck in returning traffic frowning knowing that they still have to get home, unpack and get ready to work the next day.

By: Christine

Christine — Mon, 07 Sep 2009 20:39:15 +0000

Peter J. McGuire, a carpenter and labor union leader, was the person who came up with the idea for Labor Day. The very first Labor Day was held on a Tuesday, September 5, 1882, in New York City. The day was celebrated with a picnic, concert and speeches. Ten thousand workers marched in a parade from City Hall to Union Square.

Soon after that first celebration, the holiday was moved to the first Monday in September, the day we still honor. Congress passed legislation making Labor Day a national holiday in 1894.

By: longcat

longcat — Mon, 07 Sep 2009 18:42:11 +0000

The Black Eyed Peas, silly

By: amblinal

amblinal — Mon, 07 Sep 2009 14:55:04 +0000

Aside from the law, did anyone ever wonder why it was on a Monday? Any other day in the week, would be a disruption to the work week. Monday made it a long weekend and it was the employer that paid for it. However, employers usually got theirs back by requiring every to one work the following Saturday. Most kids that remember their Dad’s working on Labor Day didn’t realize that 1) somebody had to do the vital services and 2) that it was premium pay.

By: Erika

Erika — Mon, 07 Sep 2009 13:48:23 +0000

This is what said on the Y! Buzz:

The Sad Story Behind Labor Day
by Claudine Zap

For most of us, Labor Day means backyard barbecues, weekend sales, and a last carefree day before school starts. But the laid-back holiday has some seriously sad history, including chaos, riots, and even death. Let us explain.

A tragic tale
Back in the days of the Industrial Revolution, workers were expected to put in 12-hour days, seven days a week (yes, including kids). Already sounds awful, right? It gets worse. In Pullman, Illinois, a company town that employed and housed workers to build posh railway cars, times had gotten tough. In response, George Pullman cut jobs and wages. It was 1893. Thousands of workers walked off their jobs in protest, demanding higher salaries and lower rents. Other unions joined, refusing to work the Pullman cars, turning the small-town fracas into a national fury.

With mail cars backing up, and riots worrying train execs, President Grover Cleveland stepped in. He declared the strike illegal and sent 12,000 troops to break the strike. Cue brutal protests and bloodshed. The strike was broken, but so was the spirit of the workers. To reach out to the labor movement, Congress rushed the national holiday into law. The bad will resulted in Cleveland losing re-election. But the day off for hot dogs endures.

When is it?
Labor Day falls on the first Monday of September. This year, that would be Monday, September 7. According to the Department of Labor, Congress passed an act in 1894 making the first Monday in September of each year a legal holiday.

So, working stiffs everywhere, say it now, with feeling: Happy Labor Day.

Now this another story of how it started, but the actual mean as in how I think it, is that we all celebrate this holiday, in remembreness to the fellow Americans who worked very hard in the Industrial Revolution era, who fought to deserve it, and demaned it.
I don’t know who actually started it, but to all and everyone, Happy Labor Day.

By: Irish

Irish — Mon, 07 Sep 2009 06:19:06 +0000

I think it had something to do with Canada in the 1870s….
“”labor was invented by people who don’t like to work…”"hahaha
ohhhh
Some of these answers are funny..

By: Tom Dolan

Tom Dolan — Mon, 07 Sep 2009 06:14:50 +0000

Samuel Gompers naturally wished to extole the virtues of this particular holiday although his observation isn’t very accurate. President’s Day is to honor the memory of two illustrious Americans(Lincoln and Washington) and is celebrated jointly so that room could be made to celebrate another great American(Martin Luther King). While Independence Day led to inevitable conflict, it marks the initial signing of the Declaration of Independence and is a political statement of freedom from tyrannical British rule. Thanksgiving is simply a harvest festival. Christmas marks the the birth of Christ and New Years Day is simply the beginning of the new year in the Gregorian calender. Memorial Day marks the end of the First World War so I might concede him this holiday as having anything to do with conflict between nations and men brought about by greed though the causes and contributing factors of said conflict were really much more complex.

By: joe

joe — Mon, 07 Sep 2009 06:11:52 +0000

I always think Labor day is Memorial Day and Memorial day was Labor day. I always get them mixed up.